Overhead door



Sept. 16,1924. 1,508,886

o. l.. DAUTRICK ET Al.

OVERHEAD DOOR Filed Oct. 16, 3922 2 Sheets-Sheet l mufflilillilh:

Sept. 16, 1924. v 1,508,886

O. L. DAUTRICK ET AL OVERHEAD DOOR 2 sheets-smet -2 Filed Oct. 16 1922 430:0 /4 @eye IC.. D

Patented Sept. 16, 1924.

UNITED" STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

OWEN L. nnn'rnrcx, OLARENOE'O.

JOHNSON, AND ARTHUR KRASKA, OF DETROIT,

MICHIGAN, ASSIGNORS TO DA'UTRICK JOHNSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF IMIGHTG'AN.

OVERHEAD DOOR.

Application mea october 1a, 1922. serial No. 594,725.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, OWEN L. DAUTRIOK, CnAnnNon G. JOHNSON, and ARTHUR KnAsKA, citizens of the United States of America, residin at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and tate of Michi an, have invented certain new and usefulglmprovements in Overhead Doors, of which the following isv a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

'll`hisinvention relates to sectional foldable doors, shutters or closures that may be advantageously used in connection with garages or other buildings having large or wide doorways; vehicles having bodies provided with openings; large file cases, and any structure having an opening that may be closed by a shiftable flexible or foldable door in contra-distinction to a hinged door or closure. t

Our invention aims to provide gara e door installations for units which may o assembled, in part, at a yfactory and shipped to the owner or builder of a garage to be easily and quickly installed to provide the Garage with a door, which when closed, affords a safe and durable closure for the arage, and when open occupies an overead osition out of the road. The door is shifta le from a vertical position to a horizontal position and is counterbalanced so that it may be easily moved and safely left in any adjusted position. The counterbalance mechanism eliminates slamming and jarring of the door and insures an easy movement of the same after the door is unlocked, it being e uipp'ed with a locking mechanism that wi prevent the door from being surreptitiously opened.

Our invention further aims to provide a sectional foldable door with novel pieces o hardware for guiding and supporting sections of the door when shifted, two of the pieces of hardware automatically causing a section of the door to assume a closed position and cooperate with other sections of the door in providing practically an air ti ht closure for the doorway.

e construction entering into our invention will be hereinafter specifically describedl and then claimed, and reference will now be had to the drawings, wherein- Figure l1 is an elevation of the inner .side of a sectional foldable door in accordance on the line II-II of Fig. 1 parts being omitted Fig. 3 1s a cross sectional viewiof the lock mechanism Of the door taken ori the line III-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the door taken on the line V-V of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a ortion of the door and one of its guide rai s;

Fig. 6 is an edge View of a portion of the door relative to a guide rail;

Fig. 7 isa Vertical longitudinal sectional View, somewhat diagrammatic, of a door that may be shifted into an overhead inclosure or concealed by a ceiling, and

Fig. 8 is a similar view of a door that may be used in connection with a delivery wagon, freight car or other vehicle.

In the drawings, the reference numeral 1 denotes a wall having a doorway 2 and this wall may be considered as part of a garage which has another wall, overhead beam, roof` member or other support 3 approximately in a horizontal plane with the lintel or u per edge of the doorway 2, and while the wall 1 and its doorway 2 ma be common to various structures, it may 'e necessary to provide the support 3.

Our sectional foldable door unitincludes two side frames, each comprising a vertical member 4, a horizontal member 5 and a brace or llet 6 at the juncture of said mem-- ber-which are placed at a right angle to each other and when erected aord an in-- f 5 suitably secured to the wall 1 and the su port 3 contiguous to the doorway 2.

uitably secured to the confronting walls of the side frames are angle rails 7 extending throughout the length of said frames, that is, from the lower ends of the members 4 upwardly and inwardly to the ends of the members 5, the rails 7 having curved portions 8 on the braces 6. These rails are preferably made of angle bars with projecting flanges thereof serving as a track and other ianges as means of anchoring the rails to the side frames.

The sectional foldable door comprises a bottom panel 9 intermediate panels 10 and 11 and a top panel l2, said panels having the adjoining edges thereof, at the inner si e of the door, hinged together, as at 13, so that the doonmay have its panels swing to one side of the vertical planes. 'lhe door panels are of sucient area to close the doorway 2 and overla the edges of said doorway, and assuming at the door closes the doorway, as shown inlBigs. 1 and 4, it is adapted to be raised and shifted to a horizontal position as indicated by full lines and dotted lines in Fig. 4.

Considering the hardware for the door, the panels 9, 10 and 11, adjacent the upper ed es thereof and at their ends, are provi edwith a le brackets 14'projecting inwardly from t e inner faces of said panels. These brackets are provided with anti-frictional rollers 15 and 16, the latter being danged and both of .said rollers engaging opposite faces of the rails 7, as best shown in Fig. 2. With the rails 7 properly positioned the rollers v15 and 16 and the brackets 14 will movably hold the door against the wall 1 and the anges on the rollers 16 will prevent the brackets 14 from contacting with the rails 7. The brackets 14 and the rollers thereof constitute retaining members for at all times retaining the door panels in engagement with the rails 7 particularly when said door is being shifted.

.lhe top' panel 12 may have windows or lights 17 and on the ends of said panel, ad-

jacent the upper edge thereof, are angle brackets 18 to which are pivotally connected -links 19 supporting roller carriers 20 having anti-,frictional rollers 21 engaging the rails 7 -similar to the rollers 15 and 16. 'lhe roller carriers 2O have stops 22 adapted to engage stop brackets 23 on the braces 6 and the links 19 have supporting members or lugs 24 adapted to be engaged by the top panel 12 when in a horizontal position, as best shown in Fig. 4. The roller carriers 20 and links 19 cooperate with the curved portions 8 of the rails 7 in causing the top panel 12 to swing to a closed position against the door jamb as the door is lowered' and closed.. This is brought about by the stops 22 of the roller carriers engaging the stop brackets 23, said stop brackets defining the position of the roller carriers relative to the rails so that the links 19 will force the ends of the top anel 12 against the wall 1 or the door jam As the door is raised the roller carriers following the rails 7 will cause the top panel 12 to swing away from the wall 1 and gradually assume a horizontal position relative to the members 5. As the top panel assuines this position it comes to rest on the supports or lugs 24 and since the top panel 12 is hinged to the intermediate panel 11, said top panel will be safely supported in its horizontal or overhead position.

,contact with the wall 1 or incasso @n the ends of the bottom panel 9, adjacent its lower ed e, are pieces of hardware comprising angle raokets'25 provided with rail engagi rollers 26 and wall or jamb im.; n. 27, the'ends oi the panel being cut away as at 28 to provide clearance for the rollers 27 so ha said rollers may door j amb instead of the ends of the anel. Utherwise, when thedoor is being s id from a horizontal posltion to a vertical position the ends ot the panel would strike the wall and in allr probability be injured thereby. Mounted on the side frames and pro'ecting upwardly from the upper ends o the members 4 are other pieces of hardware, comprlsing angle brackets 29 provided with bearings 30 'for rotatable sheaves or ulleys 31 over which "extend cables or horrible members 32 having the lower ends thereoi attached, as at 33, to the angle brackets 25 of the bottom panel 9. 'lhe lower ends oi the cables 32 are at times, between the members 4 and-the ends of the door anels, and the upper ends of the cables are ooped and attached tov the angle brackets 29 by nut equipped eye bolts 34 or other fastening means. Engaging the looped portions et the cables`32 are sheaves or pulleys 35, carried by stirrups or yokes 36 attached to coiled retractile springs 37 extending to the sup ort 3 where said springs are attached to t e support by screw eyes 38 or other fastening means. llt is obvious that tnrn buckles or suitable take-up devices may be associated with the springs 37 and the cables 32 to increase or decrease the tension or lenlgth oi such members.

he inner sides of the panels 9 and 19, at the lower yedges thereof, have suitable handles 39 and the panel 10 is provided with a door locking mechanism including slide bars 40' movable in guides' 41 at the ends' of the panel 10 and adapted to entend into keeper plates 42, carried by the conlil@ fronting walls of the members4. The inner ends ot the bars 40 are odset and pivotally connected, as at 43, to a turn member 44 mounted on a spindle 45 provided with inside and outside handles 46.- 'llhes indlc 45 is journaled in a bearing 47, carried by the panel 10, and the turn member 44 has a notch 48v to receive a bolt 49 wm m par@ of a lock mechanism 50 carried by the p 10. 'lhe lock mechanism 50 is of awell known make and key operated from the outer side of the door.

Suitably attached to the members 4 are the ends of a cable or dexible .member 51 which engages rollers or sheaves' 52 at the lower edge of the bottom panel 9, said cable or iiexible member exteng crosswise of the panel at Athe inner side thereof sothat it may be' readily gri psd to facilitate lowering and clo the oor ihrem a horizontal ing a doorway,- comprising inverted L-s a d or open position. Since'tlie ends of the cable are attached to 'the members d and -cause the vehicle door may be smaller and door..

li hter in weight than a 1. A door installation for a build' havnide units adapted to be mounted at the sides of the building doorway, each unit includin a horizontal member longer than the hei ht of the door-way, rails carried by the co renting sides of said units a sectional foldable door slidable :on sai rails and adapted to close said ,doorway and when open occupy a horizontal overhead position above the horizontal plane of the vhorizontal members of said units, and a counterbalance for said door extending above and along the horizontal member ofeach unit.

2. door installation as called for in claim 1, wherein the counterbalance for 'the door includes Hexible members having lower ends thereof held by said door and upper and adapte loop endsattached to said side units, pulleys engaging the loo ends of said iiexible inembers, and coil springs yattached to said pulleysA and held at the rear ends 'of the horizontal members of saidunits. v

3. A door installation for a building having a doorway and a support adjnt mid` doorway, comprising side units mounted between said doorway! and said sup f rt, each sed of a horizonte member4 side unit com attached to said support and a vertical member at said doorway, a sectional foldable door slidabl when closed to occupy a versupported from id side units y tical position at said doorway and when open occupy a horizontal position between said doorway and said support above the horizontal plane of the horizontal members of said units, and a counterbalance for said door adapted to hold said door at any position to which it may be shifted, said counter balance being `one for each unit with each countcrbalance attached to said support and extending forwardly above the horizontal member of each unit.

4. A door installation as called for in ffii pulleys in the looped portions of said exible members, and springs connecting said pulleys' to said supporti 5. The combination of a wall ha a doorway, a door for such doorway composed of liinged panels, rails adapted to guide said door rom a vertical position at said doorway. to an overhead horizontal position, carriers on said rails adapted to have the uppermost door panel rest thereon when in an overhead horizontal position, and necting said carriers to the uppermost panel of said door, said links cooperating with other panels of said door, said carriers and said rails in supporting the uppermost panel when in an overhd position.

6. The combination called for in claim 5,

and means adjacent said rails adapted to SON. 

